Chapter Text
Kip should really be more awake on the job if he wanted to make ends meet on his own. But if Kip really wanted to make it on his own, he should also probably look for a job that paid better.
Yet here he was, on a rainy Monday morning, half-asleep at the counter at Straw+Berry, mildly hungover from his family dinner yesterday. Usually, that was a good sign, because it meant that Kip felt comfortable to stay long enough for his dad to crack open the good stuff.
But yesterday, the conversation had turned towards money pretty early on, and Kip had let himself be lectured while simultaneously drinking away his financial dread. Not a good combination. They hadn't even been unkind about it. It was just yet another gentle reminder that Kip didn't have to work two jobs and live in a shitty rundown apartment to somehow pay off his undergrad student loans. Because he could just accept some money from them.
Only that Kip really could not. They have been over this a million times and Kip was not about to change his mind. He couldn't accept the money from the family business, because he wasn't a part of it anymore and also couldn't be in the future. He respected what his family did, was in favour of it, even, but if he wanted to become an academic and part of the establishment, he couldn't have any ties to the business.
He knew that technically, taking his family's money and working for the business were two different pairs of shoes, and that he could easily let the family business pay off the debt be acquired throughout his undergrad. But that didn't feel right to Kip. His family risked a lot for what they did, and so it was only fair that the profit they made was invested back into the operation, not into his art history degree.
It had to be noted that Kip loved studying art history. He was passionate about it, and every class he took not only taught him a lesson about art, but also about society as a whole. It made him a more critical thinker and made him see connections in the world and of certain groups and cultures more clearly. But it also made him rethink the structures he found himself in more carefully.
He loved the education he was able to receive, but it also came at a price. He had to fit into the establishment. Fold himself into the box that academia wanted him to be in. It made Kip think of his family and his ancestors and what they had to go through, so that he could be where he was today.
He thought about their fight and their struggle for a chance to make it in this country. His grandparents, who had planted roots here. His uncle Roberto, who had started the business, because of what had happened to Kip's grandmother after her spouse had passed.
And now Kip's cousin Kyle and his father George (Giorgio if you checked his passport, but who was asking?) who continued the legacy after Roberto's passing. And now his sister Megan, with her biochemistry degree, was firmly involved too and Kip... Kip had chosen to pursue the arts. Which he loved, and which he was good at. So good that he had gotten a scholarship for his masters. And everyone in his family had been so proud of him.
And yet... sometimes Kip wasn't sure if he deserved their praise. He thought that he should do more. Become a part of his family's legacy, start distributing their product again, even if he'd already been caught once and had nearly lost his scholarship and been banned from his degree and-
Kip jumped, because there was a noise right next to him that had taken him out of his reveries. A cough. Kip looked up and into the eyes of a handsome stranger, whose workout shirt clung so tightly to his chest that it almost looked painted on. Kip swallowed and tried to hide the anguish that must have been visible on his face as his thoughts had nearly sent him spiralling again.
He also tried to politely hide that he was scenting the air around him. Which smelled neutral, thank god. Some other, less considerate alpha might have not worn a scent blocker that effective, and might just have tipped Kip over into full nausea in his already hungover and anxious state. Kip was surprised to notice an air of patience around the waiting alpha customer. Again, a lesser man could have been angry at Kip for sleeping on the job. Actually, most people would probably be angry with him for that.
But the customer in front of Kip didn't look like he was about to yell at him for his poor workplace behaviour. In fact, the customer looked... extremely gorgeous. Dark, slightly curly hair, hazel eyes, a neatly trimmed beard, broad shoulders, abs that were visible through his shirt and, oh dear lord, so were his nipples. Kip actually had to look away, and this time it was him who had to cough, before finally adressing the customer instead of rudely ogling him.
"I am so sorry, I'm usually wide awake when I work at the counter, I swear", he said, going for a slightly apologetic but friendly tone. But honestly, and kind of tone was better than the one betraying Kip's actual inner life, which was an eternal conflict of chosing between what he loved and what he felt was right, and how he somehow just couldn't combine the two. But that was a mood that was way too heavy for a smoothie shop at 8:30 AM.
"Don't worry about it. I had a hard time getting out of bed today too", the handsome alpha replied and looked up at the menu. Try to not think about him in bed, Christopher, he reminded himself as the other man studied the sign above him. Kip really needed to get laid again. Sue him for checking out bulky alphas, which had somehow become the type that Kip was usually going for.
"What's good here? Anything you can recommend?", the customer asked after a moment. Kip tried to assess him, attempting to figure out whether he would be into green juices or something more citrusy. But since the alpha smelled like absolutely nothing (he must really be wearing an extremely good scent blocker like Kip himself did) he drew blank and just recommended his own favourite.
"I usually make the blueberry one for myself. But if I'm being honest, the company recipe usually turns out kind of watery, so if you're not allergic, I'd recommend you order my off-menu version of it with extra banana." As he said it, Kip wondered whether the hot alpha was hearing the innuendo too. And, should he have heard it without being into hit, whether Kip would be yelled at for inappropriate workplace behaviour after all.
"Oh, so you're kind of wild and don't follow the rules?", the customer teased with a grin on his face, and Kip felt a wave of relief wash over him at the reaction. It could have gone quite differently, Kip knew that. He'd met his fair share of alphas who didn't like at all being approached by another alpha. Even if Kip hadn't even intentionally flirted right now.
"Wouldn't be the first time someone called me out for my wild behaviour", Kip replied cheekily, pointedly ignoring the fact that the last time someone had properly called out his rule-breaking behaviour, it had been an academic committee in his first semester of his masters. He shouldn't be getting into that, for everyone's sake.
"Okay, well, then I'd like the, uh, Blue Moon Over Brooklyn, please, with extra banana. Uh, Kip", the man said, reading his name tag and popping the p at the end. Kip actively tried not to blush as he nodded and muttered a "Coming right up", before going to work on his usual breakfast smoothie that he had made himself only a few hours ago.
Only that now when he operated the blender, the Tylenol he had washed down with the smoothie was actually doing its job. There was only a minor pang behind his temples, rather than the raging pain he had felt when he had first heard the blender today shortly before 6 AM.
If Maria was still working here, she would have been mercilessly teasing Kip about his hangover. She would probably also have taken pictures for the group chat when he was sleeping at the counter, which then would have extended the circle of people teasing him to four. Only that Maria had quit about one and a half years ago. And the group chat wasn't really in use anymore either. They must have made a new one without him.
Kip tried to focus on other things. The whirring of the blender, the counters he should whipe down again. The new shift plan that informed Kip that he would have to pull some double-shifts because someone had quit again. The tightness of the customer's shirt- nope, not that either.
When Kip slid the smoothie over the counter, he was actually holding his breath for a moment, hoping that the hot customer liked what he had blended up for him, which wasn't something Kip usually spend many thoughts on. The alpha flashed him a bright smile and a muttered thanks as he tried a sip.
"Mh, yeah you're onto something there. I like that extra banana", he then said, and Kip was sure that this time, they must have both be heard the innuendo. Which was good. Not the innuendo of course (he wasn't about to pick up a guy while being at work), but that the man liked Kip's smoothie. It was good for business, or something like that.
When he tapped his card to pay, the alpha left a tip that was way too high. Kip was about to protest, but the man saw it coming and shook his head. "No, no. Don't say anything. Customer service workers are the backbone of this city", he nodded, as if to emphasise his own statement. "Have a good one, Kip", he said as he walked out.
Needless to say that Kip didn't mention that no, the actual backbone of this city were people who risked their livelihood to produce and distribute affordable omega health care products that also did what they promised. That was what someone with an actual backbone would do. Even if the government didn't think so.
**
Three days later, the hot alpha runner who smelled of absolutely nothing came in again. Kip imagined him to smell of blueberries and bananas when he made him his off-menu Blue Moon Over Brooklyn again. This time, he was actually convinced that they were flirting. Because who said stuff like "I wanted to give your extra banana another try" when they came into a smoothie shop and weren't at least a bit into the guy behind the counter?
Kip was about to protest again when the man gave him a much too generous tip, but he took the wind right out of his sails by saying "I'm Scott. By the way", as Kip was about to open his mouth. "Scott", Kip repeated with a smile, all protests forgotten because of this new piece of information he'd learned.
**
On the weekend, Kip was working at his second job as a museum attendant at a small Omega Rights museum in Brooklyn, but when he was back behind the counter on Monday the next week, Scott was there too. This time, Kip learned that Scott was working as a freelancer in cyber security. He'd ordered another off-menu version of the Blue Moon and once again tipped him too much. Kip only half-heartedly protested this time, because he was well aware that tech jobs, even if they were freelance, paid a lot, so Scott could probably afford it.
When Kip left his shift to go to the library to work on his thesis, he thought about a friend of his that worked in tech too. He felt an itch to text Elena, but refrained from it, because they'd lost touch a while ago, when Kip had started to distance himself from the family business.
The problem with that was that he also saw his friends form high school and undergrad less, because they were all friends with his cousin Kyle as well. And while they all supported his dreams of becoming an art historian, he'd still noticed their reactions to how he was blowing them off more and more when they asked him to come to the Kingfisher.
He hadn't told anyone about the expulsion threats, because the way he knew his friends, they would have probably called up the guy their families usually sent out and after the people that made trouble for the business. And that wasn't really something Kip's scholarship would have survived, if his friends arranged for the head of Kip's department to be beat up or some shit.
So he didn't say anything, and his friends had interpreted Kip's reluctance to come by mostly correct anyway. That it was either active solidarity with the cause, or academia. And Kip had chosen academia, which meant that he stopped going to the Kingfisher. Not because university sent spies after him that would track his every move. That was a bit too excessive.
But Kip stopped going because he was feeling guilty. At the Kingfisher, they talked about the business. And even if it was a legitimate pub, it was also a place where the products were sold. Which meant that Kip shouldn't be there, and under no circumstance work there, as he often thought he would in his masters.
Instead, Kip worked the counter at the Straw+Berry, which was definitely worse, but it was safer. And on days when Scott came in to order his smoothie with extra banana, Kip could even pretend for a few minutes that everything was fine. That he was just a normal graduate student who worked as a barista and occasionally flirted with the hot alpha who left ridiculous tips.
**
After a few weeks of enjoying their playful back and forth, Kip decided to push his luck. As he slid Scott's regular smoothie over the counter, he asked "Would that be all, or could I also interest you in a date with the hot barista?"
He probably wasn't supposed to flirt with the customers at his workplace, but at least doing it at the smoothie place was about 200% less problematic than if he ever did it at his other workplace (which he never did, obviously. He mostly wasn't into omegas anyway – he usually couldn't deal with their scents).
Kip noticed that Scott looked a little taken aback, as if he had never in a million years expected that their flirty banter would eventually lead to Kip asking him out. But because the signs that Scott might say yes had been there so clearly, Kip just had to try. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe Kip had just scared off the one customer that made his job a little less miserable.
So obviously, he had to backtrack. "Never mind, sorry. I just thought, uh, but yeah, never mind. Ignore me. Enjoy your smoothie. It's, uh, on the house."
Could he salvage the situation with a free smoothie? Probably not, but he tried to anyway when he saw how Scott's face was doing something complicated. Was he trying to come up with an excuse to let Kip down gently?
"Sorry,... I just didn't expect you to... uhm", Scott replied and Kip, for the first time since meeting him, kind of hoped that Scott would just leave to spare him the humiliation. But then, to Kip's surprise, Scott continued, "But, uh, yeah. I would love to go on a date with you. If the offer still stands?"
Now it was Kip who was clearly taken aback, but he wasn't going to fuck this up after he already thought he had, so he hurried to nod and say, "Great. Yeah, the offer definitely still stands", he exhaled and couldn't help but add, "Good I didn't make a fool out of myself there."
Scott shook his head, "No, sorry. I... I'd love to go out with you. But I guess I didn't expect you'd ask, so...", he shrugged. "Did you already have a time and place in mind?" Of course Kip did. It had taken a ridiculously small amount of Scott's visits to the smoothie shop for Kip to already imagine their first date, even if it seemed like a stupid unattainable fantasy at the time.
Which didn't mean that Kip hadn't still flirted. No, he'd definitely flirted, and then Scott had started reciprocating. So it was kind of peculiar that Scott hadn't expected that Kip would ask him out after all their extra banana talk. But then again, Kip didn't know if Scott was more used to dating betas and omegas who might expect him to ask them out, rather than being the one who was asked out.
No matter what it was, Kip was determined to take Scott on a great date. So good that he would hopefully not be as surprised when Kip would eventually ask for a second one.